It is often desirable in the manufacturing of various parts to subject the circumferential edges of the part to various edge treatment processes in order to finish or coat the outer edges thereof. These edge treatment processes include, but are not limited to priming, painting, coating, pre-coating, machining, grinding, sanding, polishing, thermal edge finishing, among others. These parts may include, for example, various rigid or semi-rigid materials such as ceramics, glass, laminates, veneers, composite materials, thermoplastic and/or thermosetting polymers, photosensitive materials or photocurable materials, wood, metal, metal alloys, and combinations of one or more of these materials, among others.
While the parts made from these materials may have a predetermined general shape and aspect ratio, the dimensions of the edges themselves may not be identical, making it difficult to quickly and accurately treat or finish circumferential edges of multiple parts without error. This is especially true in situations where the part may be a substantially planar sheet, veneer, ply, layer or other similar surface and in which the parts may have rounded edges that are not identical or may have cutouts or indentations or protrusions in one or more edges or sections therein and it is desirable to treat substantially the entire circumferential edge of the part rapidly and precisely. In other words, the tolerance of the part itself may be much greater than the edge treatment process can permit. By “circumferential edge” what is meant is the boundary edge or perimeter of the surface of the part.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an improved process that would allow for precise measuring of the actual dimensions of the circumferential edge of a part having a predetermined general shape and aspect ratio and using this measured data to more accurately treat and/or process the circumferential edge of the surface of the part. In addition, it would also be desirable to provide an improved process for edge treating the circumferential edges of similarly sized and shaped parts where adjustments to a tool path can be made in a measuring step quickly and accurately prior to the treatment step. It would also be desirable to process a part with unknown edge shape by measuring the edge and then treating the measured edge. Finally, it would be desirable to provide an improved process in which the measuring, treating and/or processing steps may be executed on the same process machinery.